Wu Tingfang

Wu Tingfang (30 July 1842-23 June 1922) was Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China, as well as the first ethnic Chinese lawyer in history.

Biography
Wu Tingfang was born in Malacca, Malaysia on 30 July 1842 to a family of Cantonese descent, and he learned to read and write in English while studying at St. Paul's College in British-ruled Hong Kong. Wu also studied law at University College London and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1876, the first Chinese person to become a lawyer in history. In 1880, he also became the first Chinese man to become an unofficial member of Hong Kong's Legislative Council. Wu served as ambassador to the United States, Spain, and Peru during the early 1900s, and he worked to educate others on Chinese history to decrease discrimination against Chinese immigrants. During the Xinhai Revolution, he supported the rebels, and he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China under Sun Yat-sen. He died in 1922 at the age of 79.